


What I Would Give (for a quiet moment with you)

by Sanctuaria



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Lincoln Lives, Nightmares, StaticQuake, with a side of Mama May
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26247919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctuaria/pseuds/Sanctuaria
Summary: There was a sharp crackling sound and a shooting pain through her hand, as if the world’s largest rubber band had been snapped against it. “Shit,” Daisy hissed, retracting it immediately and pressing it against her stomach to try to rid herself of the icy-hot tingles running through her palm. Undeterred, she shook him with her other hand. “Lincoln!”His eyes flew open in the semi-darkness, rocketing upward and almost banging their heads together, his breathing harsh and shallow. “Daisy?”
Relationships: Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 15
Kudos: 64





	What I Would Give (for a quiet moment with you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [daisylincs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisylincs/gifts).



> Happy birthday, daisylincs!! You are awesome and amazing and I'm so glad I met you <3 
> 
> Soooo I tried writing fluff because birthday but my brain was being uncooperative as usual when it comes to fluff so I gave up and wrote this instead, but then of course my brain decided it _could_ write fluff after all so now there's two. If you prefer your fluff _before_ your angst and hurt/comfort, it's [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26248012) ;)

“No…please, no…” A foot impacted her calf, and Daisy jolted awake, blinking in the darkness. “I have to,” Lincoln murmured next to her, body contorting. “I have to, I’m sorry…”

“Lincoln?” she whispered, reaching over to turn on the lamp. Soft yellow light flooded the room, illuminating his face. His mouth was twisted in a thin line of unhappiness, and his eyes wandered beneath his eyelids. “Lincoln, wake up.” She put her hand gently on his shoulder, shaking him. “Linc—”

There was a sharp crackling sound and a shooting pain through her hand, as if the world’s largest rubber band had been snapped against it. “Shit,” Daisy hissed, retracting it immediately and pressing it against her stomach to try to rid herself of the icy-hot tingles running through her palm. Undeterred, she shook him with her other hand. “ _Lincoln_!”

His eyes flew open in the semi-darkness, rocketing upward and almost banging their heads together, his breathing harsh and shallow. “Daisy?”

“Yeah,” she said. “You were having a nightmare.”

It seemed to take a few seconds before her words really registered, breaking through the panicked haze in his eyes. “Sorry for waking you up,” he muttered, slumping back down against the pillows.

“I woke you up three times in a row last week,” Daisy reminded him, giving a soft, affectionate smile of assurance. She settled against him, wrapping one arm around his waist. “Want to talk about it?”

“Just Hive again,” he said, scrubbing his hand across his face. “I had to leave you…take the Quinjet…” A tremor entered his voice. “You were begging me not to.”

Daisy pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re right here with me, where you belong.”

“I know.” He pulled her a little closer, body going limp against hers, his hand seeking hers and squeezing it. Daisy hissed involuntarily, palm twinging, and he looked at her, concerned. “What happened?”

“It’s just…sore,” Daisy said, shaking her head, but he had already pulled it toward him, gently turning it toward the light. The skin of her palm was red and shiny, and she could see in his eyes the moment he connected the dots.

“I hurt you,” Lincoln said, scrambling away from her. His legs tangled in the bedsheets as he hurried to get away from her. “I hurt you, oh my God, Daisy, I’m sorry—”

“It’s fine, I’m fine,” Daisy assured him, but it did nothing to lessen the look in his eyes, wide and full of pain.

“I hurt you,” he breathed, guilt written all over his face in the lamplight as he curled into himself at the foot of their bed. “I swore I would never…” Lincoln buried his face in his hands.

“You were asleep,” she protested, scooting closer to him. She reached to run her hand over his back but hesitated, unsure if he would welcome the contact or not. “You weren’t in control, Lincoln—”

“I promised I would never hurt you,” he whispered. “Not like…not like…” A chill ran through Daisy; she knew what he was remembering. Gooseflesh prickled her arms.

_Not like Jessica._

Lincoln gazed at her, a film of tears in his eyes. “I’m messed up, Daisy. I hurt everyone I love. Everyone who loves me.”

“That’s not true,” she told him fiercely. “You didn’t hurt me—”

“I just _shocked_ you, and you have the mark to prove it! What if—what if it had stopped your heart, or—”

“What if I made the ceiling fall down on us?” Daisy replied. “I’m the reason we had to remove the picture frames above the bed so they wouldn’t hit us in the middle of the night, when I can’t control it…”

He refused to look at her. “You don’t have…have a _history_ of…”

Daisy pressed her hand against his stiff back, softly at first, giving him time to pull away. “That guilt you feel,” Daisy murmured. “You’re not alone, Lincoln. I feel it too. You know I do, after everything…” She swallowed. “Everything I did under Hive. To you, to the team, to Mack and Fitz and—”

“That’s different,” he told her. “You weren’t responsible for Hive’s sway. It was—”

“An addiction?” Daisy offered. “Sounds familiar.” She squeezed his shoulder. “But you got help, Lincoln. You’re not that person anymore.” Her other hand found his jaw, the stubble tickling her skin as she forced him to look at her. “You would never willingly hurt me.”

“…I wouldn’t, I swear I wouldn’t,” he said, taking in a shuddering breath. Moving slow enough that he’d have time to pull away if he wanted, she leaned in to press her lips against his, keeping the kiss soft and sweet and feeling him melt into her embrace, body worn ragged.

“Think you can go back to sleep?” Daisy whispered in his ear, his breath warm against her collarbone.

He shook his head. “Not just yet…you should though. I don’t want to keep you up at…” His gaze slid to the clock. “Two a.m.”

“Do you want to be alone?” she asked, no judgment in her voice.

Lincoln hesitated. “…No.”

Daisy kissed his forehead and then the tip of his nose, smiling softly. She slid her legs out of bed and offered him her good hand. “Come on, then.”

She pulled on one of his old shirts and a pair of sleeping shorts and tossed another shirt his way, along with a pair of Pikachu pajama pants that she’d gotten him a few months ago as a gag gift. He pulled them on with a small smile and an affectionate roll of his eyes, and then they were stumbling out of her room into the quiet stillness of the rest of the base, tiptoeing past May’s room and Jemma’s and Fitz’s to reach the common area. Daisy set a Pyrex measuring cup on the counter and poured milk into it from the fridge, then placed it in the microwave to heat. Gathering up all the hot chocolate packets she could find, she dumped them in one by one, stirring and smiling at Lincoln when he returned from the pantry with a bag of miniature marshmallows. She stole one from him and popped it into her mouth before pouring the hot chocolate into two mugs and pressing one into his hands.

They curled up next to each other on the couch, Daisy using the remote to turn on some mindless sit-com in the background, lights off and canned laughter emanating softly from the screen. Lincoln’s head rested on her shoulder and hers on top of his, her thumb stroking over his knee through the pajama pants. When the cocoa was finished, she set both their mugs on the table in front of them and tugged him closer, easing him against her until he was laying down. His head was a warm weight in her lap, his golden hair awash with color from the TV, and she draped one arm over his chest to lace his fingers with hers, the other threading through his hair, running down to the nape of his neck and back up again, the brush of her nails light against his scalp. A sense of peace settled in her chest as she continued the soothing sweeps of her fingers, the tips of his blonde hair tickling her palm much too gently to be painful. Gradually, she felt the tension in him ebbing away, his breathing slowing and evening out, everything quiet and still around them.

These were the moments she held onto, a bastion against the dark. The moments she memorized and tucked away deep inside her, holding them close. Little moments like this that her younger self had craved, the warm glow of tender protectiveness curling in her stomach, affection as calm and sure as the steady beats of her heart.

 _Needing_ and _being needed_ , a depth of feeling that should have scared her, but secured and anchored her instead.

“I love you,” Lincoln mumbled into her thigh, just when she was sure he’d dropped off to sleep.

Daisy smiled, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “I love you too.”

* * *

The alarm beeped next to her head, and May shut it off immediately, the red numbers on the clock reading 4:50AM. She blinked up at the ceiling for a few moments, then rose out of the bed and dressed in her normal tank top and leggings for the morning’s tai chi. The base was still silent and dark when she exited her room, making a detour to the kitchen in the common area to start some water on a slow boil for tea.

She frowned at the sight of the TV left on again, Netflix asking _Are you still watching?_ , and made a mental note to speak to Fitz or Daisy about that later, the most likely culprits. She entered the room to turn it off, but paused almost immediately when she realized she wasn’t alone. Daisy and Lincoln were sprawled across the couch together in a tangle of limbs, his head in her lap and her draped sideways over him, head pillowed against his side. Daisy’s mouth was slightly open as she let out a cute little snore with every breath, and Lincoln’s arm was looped underneath her leg, anchoring her to him like he never wanted to let her go. 

After observing them for a few more seconds, she picked up the remote from where it had fallen on the floor in front of the couch and shut off the TV. Padding quietly away, she returned with two warm, fluffy blankets—one from Daisy’s room that she draped carefully over Lincoln, and one from her own that she tucked around Daisy.

May smiled softly, and left them to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> <3 Any and all feedback appreciated!


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